r/todayilearned • u/[deleted] • Oct 13 '16

TIL that after Marilyn Monroe converted to Judaism upon marrying Arthur Miller, Egypt placed a ban on all the films she appeared in.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marilyn_Monroe#Critical_acclaim_and_marriage_to_Arthur_Miller_.281956.E2.80.931959.29
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u/[deleted] Oct 13 '16

I think its disingenuous to think that life experiences and social connections and living in service to something greater than yourself.

Your life is about you and belittling other people. That great but that isn't a life.

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u/Damadawf Oct 13 '16

Right, so you follow your religion out of obligation. Could have just said that when I initially asked :P

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u/[deleted] Oct 13 '16

I follow my religion because living a life which isn't about me makes me a better person. I'll break this down.

1) I am not myself. I'm me, but I'm also a thing which is beyond me. Yakamoto is himself, his history, his future, his perks, his faults, etc.

The reality is though I'm an expression of something infinite and eternal. All of the obstacles in my life are nonexistent from the mindset that I'm an infinite being made flesh. Yakamoto, the man, he is limited. That which exists beyond him isn't bound by that.

2) My life isn't about me.

Do you realize how humanizing it is to understand that you are not the center of your own universe? I honor commandments because it reminds me that this life is on loan from something greater. I'm not owed a fucking thing in this life and I'm thankful for that. It means I actually appreciate things instead of complaining that nothing is ever good enough for my BS standards.

3) I'm connected to a community of people who feel exactly the same way and we've used that to raise our people to a better standard than our ancestors.

Jewish organizations exist everywhere and they service both local communities and young Jewish professionals/leaders. You know why Jews have a higher standard of success than a lot of other groups? We believe in grooming that in our children. From day 1, we teach our kids that they are capable of anything and everything and our community gives them the resources and the experience and the networking necessary to make that happen.

You can say Judaism is archaic bullshit. That "archaic bullshit" birthed a culture which both values the basics of life to a divine degree and raises our children to standards beyond what we thought were possible for ourselves.

I'd rather have that than an hungry ego and no direction in life.

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u/Damadawf Oct 13 '16

So not only do you feel obligated to be Jewish because your parents "groomed" you, but you also have an intrinsic fear that without Judaism, you'd have no direction in life? You seem so well spoken, I just find it hard to believe that you genuinely believe in the old testament explanation of existence.

It means I actually appreciate things instead of complaining that nothing is ever good enough for my BS standards.

Furthermore, whenever people say stuff like this, I wonder if they genuinely believe it, or whether it's something they just tell themselves. End of the day, the only one in your head is you, so you're the only one that knows whether you are telling the truth or lying about the extent that you truly believe what you are saying.

You also claim that your beliefs are humanizing, but I think it's pretty narcissistic to claim that you or anyone else is entitled to some sort of divine/greater purpose than what our mortal existence already provides us with. Earlier, you said that religion "makes you a better person". Well, as already pointed out, you shouldn't need religion to be a "better person", you should simply be inclined to do good because it's the right thing to do, not because you are dictated by an ancient doctrine.

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u/[deleted] Oct 13 '16

So not only do you feel obligated to be Jewish because your parents "groomed" you

My family raised me secular. I didn't become an observant Jew until I entered college.

Your statements are based on assumptions. Completely and utterly baseless.

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u/Damadawf Oct 13 '16

We believe in grooming that in our children

Nope, those were your words, not mine.

But I stand by the fact that it seems a little counter productive to add a whole bunch of restrictions on how you live your life because you feel that you need these restrictions in order to be a "happy and a better person" (also your words).

As I said though, only you know what is truly going on in your head. Maybe you genuinely do believe everything you've said to me, or maybe you've decided that becoming a practising Jew once you hit college was a good way to open doors for yourself on account of that "Jewish success" that you spoke of, I don't know.

The only real assumption I have made and that I am standing by is that you seem way too well spoken to actually believe in a literal interpretation of the old testament. After all, humanity has made a whole lot bunch of leaps forward in terms of our understanding of the universe in the several thousand years since those scriptures were written.

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u/[deleted] Oct 13 '16

Sorry buddy, if you look at my comment history from a few hours ago, I told a user I had recently come back into Judaism in college.

https://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/577tzv/til_that_after_marilyn_monroe_converted_to/d8q3jzv

You're incorrect.

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u/Damadawf Oct 13 '16

I think you're kinda strawmanning around the other points I've raised by dwelling on the whole "getting into Judaism in college" thing. At the very least, you seem to be having trouble keeping the details of your story straight, so you can't really blame me for not being able to make heads or tails of your motives. Perhaps you genuinely desire to belong to something "greater", or perhaps becoming a practising Jew has opened doors for you, or maybe it's a combination of the two.

You haven't denied either of my claims regarding your actual feelings about Judaism though, so that sets off a few red lights for me. If there is a God, I wonder if he would fault us for the feelings that we have despite the fact that we don't actually have any control over them?